Leonid-144
Senior Chief Petty Officer Leonid Fleischer, known throughout life as SPARTAN-144 or Codename: EGOR, was a highly skilled assassin and graduate of the original . Despite hailing from the most celebrated unit of the war, the socially isolated soldier spent much of his life in absolute secrecy. As part of Operation: LEONIDAS, Leonid was abducted during the and replaced with a , leaving to write him off as dead, even as he entered into a new career as a top level agent for the . Elements within Section Zero, the internal affairs department of the intelligence agency, identified the as a potential asset in it’s work, and under the direction of Codename: CHAUCER, director of the Field Investigation Team, arranged for the kidnapping and induction of Leonid-144. Working as both a tracker and a triggerman for the notoriously deadly group, Leonid spent years prosecuting and eliminating internal targets that were deemed a threat. During this time, Leonid’s superiors would themselves come into contact with a corrupting influence, agents of the elusive Operation: BLUE NIGHTS, eventually culminating in a conflict of interest between the Field Investigation Team and investigators working in Operation: VORAUSSICHT. Following detainment by these investigators, Leonid would be covertly assigned to the , where the assassin masqueraded as a in order to hide in plain sight. Following this stint aboard the Infinity, Leonid would again return to service as an assassin, cementing a legacy as one of ONI’s most effective and deadly agents. Service Vitae Promotions and Decorations Service Record Biography Early Life Born on the Frieden settled planet Arizona III, Leonid had his roots in the country of Germany in the Sol system. His mother was of Russian descent however, and she persuaded his father to name him Leonid after her ancestors. Leonid's parents were not a happy couple, and Leonid's father abused his mother. This prompted Leonid to become cold and isolated from his parents, which saddened his mother. This also caused Leonid to lose most ties to normal society. During his early life, he was often shunned by the other children at the school, as he was antisocial and prone to burst of abrupt anger. He was no bigger than any other child, but he was far stronger, vicious, and intelligent. During Dr. Catherine Halsey's study of children for her SPARTAN-II program, he was noted in her original study for being an excellent specimen. He was scouted and observed by the office of naval intelligence, who were put under pressure from Halsey to keep a steady stream of up-to-date information. Halsey realized how fast children developed, which she had noted that the ONI did not, after getting a four month old picture of John-117. Having been noted as an excellent potential subject, Halsey personally met with him at his school. This was a process that had been repeated with many other children, and he was one of the last to be inspected. During her inquiry, she found him to be of stunning intellect, and to have a very analytical mind. When she asked him the common question about if he liked to play games, he told her no, that he didn't, but he told her that he would humor her. A month after the meeting, Leonid was quietly kidnapped in the night and replaced with a Flash Clone by ONI Section III operatives. He was unaware of what was happening until he was too far to do anything about it, and he gave in without a fight, more for curiosity then lack of willpower. After being rushed through slipspace, Leonid was escorted to a secure briefing room where he was told of what his new life would be like as a member of the SPARTAN-II program. Leonid was shocked, but was one of the few that took it in stride. Due to his cold and antisocial nature, he had never developed a strong or warm relationship with his parents, who were harsh and strict, and did not grieve losing them. Instead, he was intrigued with the possibility of a new, and more exciting life. Leonid was as shocked and confused as the other children the next morning, and attempted to stand up to his instructors during the morning workout. However, all this did was earn him a jab in the gut with a stun baton, and he quickly realized he would be better off to lay low. Leonid was intrigued greatly by the Spartans at Thermoplayae, similar to the other trainees. During the time at the playground, Leonid was one of those who were fooled by the exercises. He was never very much of a team player, and abandoned his team at first time. However, due to a string of bad luck, he fell into the water below the playground. Leonid's team came in second to last however, just barely beating the team composed of John-117, Kelly-087, and Sam-034. However, Leonid learned his lesson, and made great lengths to work less selfishly. However, he was never any less independent. Leonid trained as hard as anyone during the years, but his cold manner and short temper isolated him from the other trainees. He never made any friends, and he never let anyone get close to him. During training, Leonid became a proficient marksman and sniper, but his real skills were in tracking, assassination, ambushes, and an uncanny awareness of where the enemy would deploy and how they would fight. During training, he was occasionally given command of Red team, because on the rare occasions where he was given a command he successfully anticipated how well the enemy would fight. He risked his entire team on a maneuver that could have been a disaster, but turned out to be a stunning victory. During training, the only person he allowed himself to like was their trainer, Chief Petty Officer Mendez. He respected his silence, his manner, and most of all his ruthlessness. Leonid grew especially ruthless as training progressed. However, despite his uniqueness, Leonid was no more important than any other Spartan, and didn't ever gain notoriety among his fellows. However, his isolation from the others did come to the attention of ONI Section 0. Leonid was often assigned to missions where he was alone, which focsued on survival skills. Leonid became an excellent ranger from this training, though it came at expense of bonding with his squadmates. During a combat excersise where three SPARTAN-II teams were pitted against each other in free-ranged combat, Leonid was sent as a lure for Green Team. His team leader, Joshua-029, had laid an ambush, and Leonid was ordered to entice Green into this attack. The operation worked, and Green Team was eliminated, but a fight broke out between the SPARTAN Edward-077 and Leonid. Leonid severely wounded Edward, angering their team. Indeed, the injuries were extensive; Edward was knocked out cold, had his arms and nose broken, and had to briefly put in rehabilitation. After this, Leonid was banished from his team, and was labelled as losing the excersise. Augmentation, and a Cover up In March of 2525, the trainees of the SPARTAN-II program were augmented to with the following procedures to become stronger, faster, and better able to achieve victory. 1. Carbide ceramic ossification: advanced material: special metal and ceramic layers, grafting onto skeletal structure to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-post pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization. 2. Muscular enhancement injections: protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time. Risk: 5 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase. 3. Catalytic thyroid implant: platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: rare instances of elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive. 4. Occipital capillary reversal: submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of subject’s retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase. Risk: retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness. 5. Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites: alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject’s reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinson’s disease and Fletcher’s syndrome. However, as noted, these procedures were extremely risky. With a mortality rate of over half, the procedures heavily dented the SPARTANs ranks. Only thirty three came out well enough to fight; twelve were too injured to continue active duty, and thirty more were killed outright. In a seemingly anti-climactic flash of light, Leonid-144, a promising candidate, was among those who did not survive. However, that was not the full truth. Official records stated that he was killed in augmentation when his bones grew so large that they ruptured the veins in his body. He was among thirty potential SPARTANs to die from augmentation, and was not a special case in the slightest. However, this was a lie. ONI Section 0, shadowy and mostly unknown, created a cover-up that he had been killed. They kidnapped him and replaced his body with a cloned one, and he was drafted into an ONI special project known as DAGGER. In Operation: DAGGER, he would become Section 0's private SPARTAN-II, able to be used to assassinate potential threats, and deal with traitors and informants within the UNSC's ranks. He received little explanation for the event, but due to his extremely intelligent nature, he quickly began to grasp a glimpse of their plan. In the years ahead, he would fully uncover what they meant to do with him. Leonid was spirited to the ONI Section 0 Prowler Obscure Shade, where he was transported to one of ONI's deep space space stations, Deep Space Station #045191. He was fully trained in all UNSC space and ground vehicles, as well as those employed by the Insurrection, whom he would possibly be fighting. He soon became incredibly skilled as an assassin, and would be the perfect tool for Section 0 to use. In 2527, after finishing his second wave of training given to him by Section 0, he was given a mission: hunt down a Section III officer that had gone rogue and was leaking funds to the insurrection. The man, due to considerable intelligence capability, caught whiff of the fact that Section 0 would soon eliminate him, and fled with few of his belongings, leaving behind a surprise for Leonid; dozens of Insurrectionist soldiers. However, Leonid was able to dispatch these enemies, and from files left behind, he captured vital intelligence on the movement of rebels in UNSC space. Interesting more was the fact that the evidence from the files suggested that three children were being trained as private SPARTAN-IIs by the rogue agent, in order to be his own personal soldiers and guardians. Finally, several documents confirmed that he had fled with them in tow. Following a lead given to them by evidence in the house, Section 0 ordered Leonid to capture the governor of Eridanus II, who was suspected to be a rebel sympathizer. The evidence in the estate confirmed ONI suspicions, and an attack was planned. Leonid snuck into the house of the man and interrogated him, then brought him back to the command staff at Section 0. The man gave away valuable information, but not the location of their rogue agent. However, he did expose a dozen ONI agents who were supplying Intel to the Insurrection, and one even to the Covenant. Over the course of six years, Leonid, at orders from Section 0, hunted down almost three dozen rogue agents, allies of the fugitive, and those who provided shelter for him. In 2533, a final lead to the rogue agent was found, and Leonid descended on the man. After being on the run for six years, the chase finally came to an end, and Leonid killed him in cold blood. However, there was an unexpected side effect of the mission. Leonid confirmed the existence of the three children SPARTAN-IIs, trained and augmented in ways similar to the original SPARTANs, who had been tricked by the rogue agent into giving him protection. These children were brought back to the office of naval intelligence, who retrained them, and gave them the designation numbers of SPARTAN-458, 459, and 500. The reason for the choosing of these numbers is unknown. After this was over, Leonid continued to perform small sleuth, assassination, and kidnapping missions for Section 0. Through him, several illegal operations were shut down, including a bio-weapon capable of destroying entire species. On one incident, Leonid was placed on a mission to assassinate a UNSC officer who had sold information to a group of rebels about troop movements. This information allowed the rebels to eliminate almost 50 marines with a series of explosive charges planted in a spaceport, also killing over 300 civilians. Section 0, furious, ordered Leonid to move in and kill the officer, who, intelligence indicated, was meeting with the rebels once again to discuss another transaction. Leonid tracked the officer to a city nightclub on the planet of Tribute, in the Epsilon Erindani System. After several days of formulating a plan, Leonid infiltrated the nightclub and set to work. Once he located the traitor, who was meeting with the rebels, he called in a group of law enforcement officers who were highly trained. The police thought they were conducting a drug bust with the help of a Section III spook, and had no awareness of Leonid's plan. Leonid was able to, in the confusion, eliminate three rebel bodyguards and track down the officer, before he killed him. In the end, law enforcement suspected nothing (29 members of the nightclub were convicted of possession) and Section 0 eliminated the traitor effortelessly. Triad In early 2544, ONI Section 0 began to catch whiff of a sinister plot to up throw the UNSC. More distressing however, was the fact that this plot was reportedly coming from inside the Office of Naval Intelligence itself. Without a doubt, these conspirators had to be silenced. In late 2544, Section 0 began investigating members of Sections I, II, and III, to discover where these rumors came from. Around the same time, funds began being diverted from crucial projects to unnamed and unknown programs. Section 0 investigated this thoroughly, finding soon enough that these funds were being embezzled by members of Section Three, Subsection Gamma-Eight. Agents tracked these funds to Lacerta system, on Alpha Lacerta Alpha, a backwater swamp world just barely within the undestroyed range. However, the agents were abruptly silenced after arriving at the planet. Section 0 dispatched Leonid aboard the Prowler Nor Hell's a Fury to recon the system. Leonid was however, shot down by a flock of Skyrocket-Class Fighters, craft normally crewed by rebels, but that were widely available due to low cost. After crashing in the swamps of the planet, he continued to move towards the base. There, he found something no one had expected. The conspirators had created an army of soldiers much like the SPARTAN-IIs and IIIs with their siphoned funds, and were in the process of training them. Their plan was easy to discover; use the super soldiers, code named NIGHTs, and stage a bloody coup of the UNSC leadership. The illegal project was more than they had feared. Leonid stealthed his way into the facility, and found the main commander of the group. He assassinated the man, and then attempted to escape. However, word leaked out quickly, and the rest of the conspirators mobilized. Their timetable rapidly accelerated, and the assassinations of Margaret O. Parangosky, Danforth Whitcomb, Michael Stanforth, Roland Freemont, H.T. Ward, and Terrence Hood were approved within 5 days. All mentioned would be in a single meeting on Reach to discuss tactics against the Covenant, and NIGHT agents were already in position. Leonid escaped the training center with this knowledge, and transmitted to Section 0. However, by the time the transmission reached them, they had already dispatched all of their forces to far away to do any good. Leonid was forced to infiltrate the compound, and he killed the NIGHT agent’s moments before they detonated a small bomb that would have killed off all of the above. With their plot foiled, the members of the conspiracy attacked in full force, revealing themselves to the world. However, Leonid managed to escape the chaos as the Conspiracy members clashed in open combat with marines, and he located the leader of the conspiracy, who was trying to flee. Having found the man, he proceeded to slit his throat, ending the threat once and for all. In the following years, the incident would be heavily classified, and paraded as a rebel attack against UNSC leadership figures. In Section 0 however, the conspiracy was soon called Triad, due to a trio of leaders, and the incident made Section 0 ever more watchful. They would not be nearly outwitted ever again. The remaining NIGHTs who had survived the battle were rounded up and executed quietly for treason, despite never being an official part of the UNSC military. Later Service After Leonid showed his competence in full fledged combat, he was put on loan to the Office of Naval Intelligence, Section III, but his existence was kept heavily classified, especially from those such as Catherine Halsey and James Ackerson, who would undoubtedly try to use him for their own ends if he was ever discovered. He was also used as a plant for Section 0, informing them of everything he saw and heard, giving them a good view of what was going on in the rest of ONI. Leonid was often dispatched to execute guerilla warfare against the Covenant, and was considered to be a highly good scout. During extended ground campaigns, he would often be dispatched to go ahead of larger assault forces and assassinate Covenant commanders, making invasions and assaults much easier. Leonid was on Reach when it fell in 2552, and when HIGHCOM was attacked, he was forced to find shelter. Leonid snuck his way into a Covenant camp, and used the grav-lift to enter an overhead ship that was dispatching troops. He snuck aboard by hiding in a cargo container, then exited and killed any covenant he encountered. Leonid made his way to the bridge of the ship, then killed the command crew and locked down the auxiliary bridge and locked the doors. He made his way to the shuttle bay, as the ship began to crash without pilots. Leonid escaped aboard a Spirit dropship, and managed to mimic a Covenant transmission well enough to get clearance to land on one of the Covenant ships orbiting reach. Ironically enough, the Covenant managed to repair the damage, but it provided a large enough distraction that the covenant ship took its time to fire when Fredric-104, Kelly-087, and Joshua-029 flew banshees at it and dropped a Fury Tac Nuke into it's gravity beam, saving Kelly 087 and Fredric-104's lives. This finally destroyed the Covenant ship. After landing in the other Covenant ship, he stowed away in the cargo hold, where he hid for the next few weeks. Unknown to him, the ship followed the Master Chief's captured Ascendant Justice in a hunt for the forerunner crystal. The ship engaged in combat while in slipspace, and ultimately destroyed the Eridanus Secundus Asteroid Colony. After this, the ship returned to the Unyielding Hierophant to refuel and refit, and then was put on outer patrol duty. The ship was severely damaged when the Unyielding exploded, and Leonid was forced to move or be killed when fires began to consume his hiding spot. After killing the bridge crew aside from a scant handful of Grunts and Engineers, he ordered them to pilot the ship to High Charity, which he had learned of after overhearing two Elites. The ship departed for High Charity with all due speed, but unfortunately for Leonid, the space station had just moved to the remains of Installation 04. Instead, the ship jumped to Sanghelios, but due to the transit time, from the core of human space, to the core of Covenant space, the ship did not arrive until November 5th, after the beginning of the Covenant Civil War. Leonid was met with a scene that confused him; Covenant ships (controlled by Elites and Brutes) were battling each other, and sections of the planet had been glassed. Just upon entering the system, the Brute forces open fired on Leonid's ship, thinking it to be Elite reinforcements due to it's inbound vector. The opening salvo disabled the ship, and it crashed into the surface of the planet. The crater was immediately swarmed by elites, who believed it to be a Brute craft. However, Leonid evaded their strike teams, and then stole a banshee fighter to make his way to the HQ for the elite forces. Leonid infiltrated the command post and killed the leader of the resistance, prompting a head-hunt by Separatist forces. However, a Loyalist attack stalled the headhunt. Similar to John-117's actions on High Charity, Leonid fought both sides, before making his way to the center of the city where the HQ had been established and overloading a power supplying reactor. After escaping the city, he watched from a distance on a mountain top as the reactor exploded and destroyed both sides battling. Leonid then hid in the mountains, hitting both sides from afar with sniper fire from his M99 Stanchion Gauss Sniper, taking out troops from both sides. In the meantime, the Elite forces were overrun and annhilated by the Brutes, and forced back to the same mountain where Leonid was hiding. Leonid was overrun by elite forces who strangely did not attempt to kill him, but rather take him alive. Leonid was captured, but to his surprise, he was not executed, and was rather informed of the shaky truce between the UNSC and the Separatists. Following this, he informed his captors-made-allies of his skills at assassination. They told him that most of the planet had been overrun by Jiralhanae forces, and that a San 'Shyuum priest, the Minister of Elegance, was orchestrating a religious campaign to kill the remaining Sangheili that had taken refuge in the mountains. The Sangheili proposed a deal; kill off Elegance, and they would provide him with transportation off world. Leonid happily agreed, as he felt he needed to report back to Section 0 urgently. After being given weaponry by the Sangheili, as well as transportation past the Jiralhanae perimeter, he moved through the rocky and rough countryside of the mountains, avoiding combat, and sinking into his best areas of expertise. Elegance, a Minister, had taken refuge in a large city named Helios after the planet's special guards. A palace once owned by a wealthy Sangheili merchant, served as his thrown room, and was easily breach able. While Elegance was away from his guards, Leonid slit his throat, and escaped after planting an anti-matter bomb charge given to him by Sangheili soldiers. The Loyalists, confused and disoriented with the death or Elegance, were easy prey for a Sangheili assault. The Separatists staged a lightning-fast surprise assault, using captured Wraiths to bombard Jiralhanae positions from afar, and ghosts and banshees to kill the brutal soldiers at closer range. Despite their fewer numbers, the Sangheili's good use of mechanized infantry proved extremely effective, and the Brutes were routed. Once the first stronghold was down, the Separatists were able to free enslaved and imprisoned allies, and lead a successful purging of the rest of the planet. .]] Peace...and new missions After the planet was retaken, the Sangheili fulfilled their promise and gave him a Seraph modified with a slipspace drive. Using this ship, Leonid was able to return to UNSC controlled space, and find out what had happened since he had been gone. After returning to Earth and contacting one of the surviving Section 0 controllers, he was returned from his loan to Section 0, to work once again as their private SPARTAN. Leonid was debriefed by Section 0 on the events after Reach, and was sent out once again on different missions. In the wake of the Great War, as it was soon known as, humanity had a lot of rebuilding to do, and with much of its economic base destroyed with the lost colonies, it had little time to recover before the entire economy collapsed. For this, many more colonies were created, with an emphasis on getting development of goods and other things back on track. The UNSC leased to dozens of private companies, and sent out dozens of colony ships with government funding for new factories, corporations, and businesses, effectively jump-starting the economy within a few short years, as well as making juggernauts out of former little known companies. The economic growth was a godsend; instead of economic collapse, there was instead unprecedented growth. In addition, limited Sangheili trade and intervention helped the UNSC stay on it's feet, a vital turn for humanity. However, the years following the Great War were not all vast economic growth and the creation of new colonies. Rebellion, which had been a major problem for the UNSC before the start of the war but had been stalled by a shared enemy, flourished once more, and dozens of insurrectionist factions began popping up, screaming for independence, in most case violently. In addition to scattered rebels and pirates, several false companies backstabbed the UNSC, stealing the government funds that had been given to them to start their businesses and running to contested space. These were all factors in the assassinations of more than three hundred assorted men and women in the first fourteen years after the end of the war. During these years, Leonid (once again on loan to Section III, after several requests) was dispatched hundreds of times to assassinate outspoken rebel leaders, backstabbing merchants, black-market weapons dealers looking to supply rebellions, and even corrupt CAA officials seeking to play both sides of rebellions. Leonid 's existence was once again kept classified from almost everyone within ONI and the UNSC. Even most of the people who issued him orders were unaware of his background or where he came from, and usually neglected to investigate, having already felt to have pushed their own luck with their receiving of a genuine SPARTAN-II. In 2564, Leonid was called in by ONI Section III to assassinate outspoken rebel leader Eric Sylvina,who was the leader of the shield corporation. During the battle, Leonid infiltrated a rebel orbital station and killed the traitor, doing the UNSC a significant favor. Leonid was involved in the assassinations of dozens of rebel leaders, and worked in joint cooperation with the 112th Naval Squadron during several campaigns against rebels, many of which are still highly classified under the ONI X-RAY DIRECTIVE. While the fighter pilots of the 112th flew bombing runs and distraction flights to draw attention, he would often infiltrate rebel bases and safe houses to kill important officials. The joint force between the 112th and Leonid was highly successful, but soon became impractical because the 112th's fame was endangering Leonid s secrecy. Despite this, Leonid would continue to work with them on isolated occasions’, most specifically in large scale battles where many different troops were involved and where he could stay in the shadows. Eventually, near the 2570s, the civil unrest and economic backstabbing began to stop. By 2576, increased contact with the Remnant near the outer colonies made them ONI's biggest priority. At first, Section III seemed oblivious to the lesson learned during the Great War and deployed Leonid to the do recon and small surprise stealth attacks against the enemy, instead of using him for high profile assassinations. Despite the less than ideal missions, Leonid performed admirably, but did often fight worse when paired with other soldiers. In 2577, at the approximate age of 45, Leonid was withdrawn from the Remnant front to work with the Covenant Separatists on training a new assassin soldier. The joint UNSC/Separatist project, codenamed HIRED GUN, was a project to train new Sangheili soldiers for the job of high profile assassination, recon, and ambush. Due to Leonid's experience in the field, ONI put him on loan to the Separatist SpecOpComm, or Special Operations Command, the detachment in charge of commando operations. These new soldiers, known during training and deployment as SOARs, for Special Operatives for Assassination and Reconaissance, were not augmented in any way, but received much more intensive training and much better equipment. Many aspects of the SOARs were modeled after Leonid, from tactics and strategies to equipment and weaponry. After the training of the SOARs finished in 2585, Leonid was put back in the frontlines of the war, except this time, he was in charge of a squad of a dozen SOARs. Leonid had a disliking for the SOARs, and had always been hesitant about training them, but had accepted due to duty. Disregarding his personal anti-social nature however, the combined SOAR/ Leonid force proved to be highly effective. In battle, Leonid and his squadron would often go ahead of main offensives, and soften up the forces ahead by killing generals, squad leaders, and sometimes even religious figures. However, this wasn't the only threat to the UNSC. A group known as the Covenant Rebels, a group of Sangheili who still hated the UNSC, began to attack, and Leonid was forced to let his SOARs take the battle to the Remnant and fight the Covenant Rebels instead. He was used similar as he was used in earlier conflicts; he would soften up enemy groups ahead by eliminating commanders and generals, as well as scouting and destroying key points for the UNSC. After five years of fighting against the Covenant rebels, in 2600, the head of Section 0, who had pioneered Leonid's obduction, was retired by ONI. His replacement was somewhat less bent on secrecy, and he authorized Section 0 members to release classified files about Leonid to Section III. In addition, he abolished a rule Alick had established, and allowed Leonid to meet other SPARTAN-IIs and identify himself to them, if he had the chance. Howevever, other matters of secrecy were not lifted, and Leonid did not have the chance to meet other SPARTAN-IIs until much, much later. In 2625, Leonid was forcibly retired by Section 0. Leonid however, did not leave ONI altogether, but became a mission planner for ONI Section III for ten years for the SOARs, as well as new UNSC created commando units coming into service. After ten years of serving as a planner, Section 0 finally force Leonid to retire to civilian life under a false name. Leonid was angered greatly by this, and actually attacked a Section 0 officer, but in the end retired. Civilian Life As a civilian, and one at the approximate physical age of 86 (the chronological age of 114) and with a large UNSC pension, he had little trouble living off of UNSC money and elderly care funds. Leonid adopted the name of Egor Fleischer, after learning of his original surname from a Section 0 officer. Egor, as he was called, retired to one of the few remaining inner colonies, to live out his remaining days in peace. Due to Egor's antisocial tendencies, he became a recluse, a hermit of sorts, rarely interacting with others and living off of crops he farmed himself. He became somewhat of an urban legend among the people near his abode, due to his isolation, age, and the mystery surrounding him. He became a very popular attraction to young children, but after he broke the arm of a young teenager attempting to prank his hovel, he became less popular with those of an older age. In 2662, at the chronological age of 151, with the body of a 129 year old man, he died while attending to his crops, as he had occasionally expressed he wished to go. After Death When ONI heard of Leonid's death, they immediately dispatched a team to the colony. The team buried Leonid but took none of his possessions, and questioned the locals about what kind of life he had lived. After obtaining an unknown goal, the team departed, leaving behind even more mystery. Over the years, local legend continued to blur the story of Leonid, becoming a popular folktale. In the later tellings, he was a powerful and wise old man who came from space, to live in isolation and pray for forgiveness for crimes he had committed against god and man. He was the subject of much mystique and wonder, and tales were told of how he had fought the Covenant in his youth and angered people to secretive and powerful to be spoken of, in some ways coincidentally accurate. Almost 150 years after his death, Leonid's tale was published as a children’s book, a bestseller, named "The Soldier of Solitude". Though ONI never publicly declassified Leonid’s tale, there were numerous leaks from inside Section 0 that emerged into public. An eyes only classified service record, detailing Leonid's entire history, was leaked in 2798, and ONI was unable to ever fully contain the leak. In 2852, when a large statue was built to commemorate all of the SPARTAN-IIs, including those killed or wounded in augmentation, there was a supposed "error"; the statue portrayed 34 SPARTANs in MJOLNIR armor, 29 without armor as children, and 12 mangled and disabled. This was the only acknowledgement from ONI of Leonid’s existence, and the 34th SPARTAN-II in the statue was entitled "Egor", in reference to his civilian name. Appearance Like all those hailing from the original Class of SPARTAN-IIs, Leonid maintained an intimidating presence. Despite his penchant for stealth, he retained the walking tank physique of his comrades, standing two-hundred fifteen centimeters tall and weighing in at an impressive one hundred and thirty kilograms. Not one to be written off as a pushover for his size, Leonid displayed extreme strength and durability; when his left arm was smashed to a pulp during a mission, he nevertheless strangled the target with his remaining intact limb. Leonid could be said to exhibit a sort of rough handsomeness, if the features were found on someone more likeable; however, these were wasted on the cold and apathetic SPARTAN. Leonid, never deployed for years on end in war-zones like his SPARTAN-II brethren (the occasional deployments while on loan to Section III notwithstanding), escaped the war with decidedly few battle scars. By the time he entered truly "active" duty where he saw constant combat---the post war period, during his time aboard the Infinity and afterwards--Leonid's abilities had matured to a point where it was rare for him to even take fire if he did not wish it. Adding to his uncannily undamaged visage, Leonid, unlike many of his brethren, escaped augmentation with his facial features remarkably unscathed; ironic, considering the cover story of his "death" during the procedures. Adding to the dissimilarity was Leonid's skin coloring: unlike most SPARTANs, Leonid spent considerable time out of armor, giving him a darker pallor that---coupled with relatively plain features---allowed him to slip in crowds with greater ease. In keeping with this, Leonid's Section Zero handler CHAUCER---and later his Section Three masters---encouraged Leonid to break duty regulations and grow a modest beard; even after service, Leonid would retain this facial hair. Like a number of SPARTAN-II candidates, Leonid entered the program multilingual, speaking Russian and German. Unlike some of who stubbornly clung to this heritage, Leonid promptly discarded it; by the conclusion of training, the only remnants of Leonid's culture was a pronounced Russian accent which fellow candidates believed Leonid kept to preserve his isolation. Mental Report Personality Leonid, from the simplest viewpoint, could be viewed as someone lacking empathy. This manifested in profound anti-social and self-absorbed behavior, harsh and brutal treatment towards those who angered him, and cold ruthlessness in combat. Born with an amazingly powerful temper, Leonid during training and childhood could turn devastatingly violent at a moments notice; this came into play throughout the early years of Leonid's SPARTAN training, where fights with other trainees was common for young Leonid. Chief instructor Franklin Mendez eventually trained this anger out of him, and focused Leonid's potential rage into a tightly disciplined force to be reckoned with: when his fury was unleashed, the cold and professional Leonid could turn blood thirsty and cruel. However, the coping mechanisms Leonid developed to control this anger made him seem detached and somewhat arrogant, distancing him from those around him. Leonid preferred solitude, and had little regard for other soldiers around him. With little impetus to develop them, Leonid had poor social skills, with the crucial exception of lying; a master of deception, Leonid could lie convincingly to maintain cover on undercover assignments, even in the most stressful or critical of situations. Leonid considered himself superior to most of those around him; highly intelligent and perceptive, he was well aware of his combat skills and measured most of those around him as beneath him---usually correctly. In combat, Leonid was ruthless and methodological; targets, no matter who they were, were simply targets to be eliminated; Leonid never took prisoners unless specifically ordered too. Above all, the defining characteristic of Leonid's personality that developed out of training was an absolute willingness to follow orders. No matter the mission, objective, or target, Leonid would, if ordered, follow through on those orders. This particular trait allowed members of Section Zero to abuse his skills for their own personal agendas, and later contributed to his service without complaint for Section Three. Relationships Brown Team During training, Leonid was paired with four other SPARTAN recruits and organized into Brown Team. This rambunctious and ill-advised collection of trainees proved difficult to control, as each was more individualistic and independent than the last. No solid leader ever really developed for the team, despite the best efforts of Chief Mendez, and it would establish a reputation within the program as a "weird" group; removed from the inner circle of Blue, Red, and Green Teams, Brown Team members, like Black and Grey, were outsiders after a fashion. Leonid's fit in this group was poor at best; while most of the team would bond well, Leonid would remain a perpetual loner. During training, he instigated a number of fights and brawls with his fellow team members when his temper spilled out, and often bickered sharply with his squad mates. Despite this, his team members would come to value Leonid's skills at stealth, tracking, and close quarters combat, earning him the role as the team's chief scout and point man. Interestingly, Leonid's team may have made him a more attractive candidate for Operation: LEONIDAS: when the cabal of Section Zero, Section III, and Delta-7 operatives struck to extract candidates after the SPARTAN-II augmentation, they pulled heavily from Brown Team, pulling two other SPARTANs, Riker-012 and Laszlo-108, in addition to Leonid. Speculation has long encouraged that these three SPARTAN-IIs were selected in part because their isolation within Brown Team made them bigger targets. In later years, Leonid's fellow Brown Team members would look back with a degree of fondness towards old angry, quiet, icy Leonid; no record exists of a return set of sentiments from Leonid himself. Codename: CHAUCER Despite a long and storied history between the two, the relationship between Leonid and his primary Section Zero controller, Codename: CHAUCER, seems to have been entirely professional. CHAUCER extracted Leonid from the SPARTAN-II program after augmentation in 2525, in order to acquire him as an asset for his Field Investigation Team. By most accounts, CHAUCER seems to have regarded Leonid as simply as an asset to be used--more of a weapon than a person. CHAUCER deployed Leonid on the most critical of missions (including both legitimate Field Investigation Team operations and missions to further his own personal agenda) and communicated only as far as was necessary to issue orders. When Leonid was captured by investigators from Operation: VORAUSSICHT in 2558, CHAUCER did not hesitate to throw Leonid to them to clear his own name, evidence that any sentimental value the Section Zero commander had for his operative was transient at best. Leonid, for his own part, viewed CHAUCER with respect due to a commander but never seemed to establish a personal connection. While Leonid dutifully stayed loyal to CHAUCER during questioning by Codename: RAINFALL, this seems to have been more due to his desire to simply follow orders than to any personal regard for CHAUCER's well being. By all accounts, Leonid operated with the same efficiency and loyalty towards his other, later controllers as he did towards CHAUCER. Codename: SUBMARINE Codename: SUBMARINE first came into contact with Leonid in 2558, when he was ordered to find a way to hide the Leonidan operative. After Operation: VORAUSSICHT captured him, Leonid was held safely and secretly in custody, but this secrecy was threatened when the Operation was shackled with extensive civilian oversight. Anticipating that civilian involvement would cause potential leaks, and especially wary of word escaping that Section Zero itself had had some tacit involvement with an illicit program such as Operation: LEONIDAS, high level members of Section Zero assigned SUBMARINE to find a way to move Leonid out of the spotlight. This simple directive ultimately led to SUBMARINE assuming the role formerly played by CHAUCER, as Leonid's prime controller. SUBMARINE would orchestrate Leonid's excursion on the UNSC Infinity in 2558, his loans to ONI Section Three during the early 2560s, and even oversee his reintegration into Section Zero. During this time, SUBMARINE would gain notoriety not for his tasking abilities, but to the excellent lengths he went to to hide Leonid from prying eyes. SUBMARINE would, unlike CHAUCER, develop a vague sense of loyalty towards the wayward SPARTAN, but Leonid, ever the isolationist, would consider SUBMARINE simply another superior whose orders were to be followed. Codename: MONTEGUE The SPARTAN-IV operative Codename: MONTEGUE, a former ONI Section Zero assassin himself, was Leonid-144's primary contact and controller aboard the UNSC Infinity in 2558. Coerced by Codename: SUBMARINE into helping Section Zero hide Leonid aboard Infinity, MONTEGUE was critical to the brief but impressive deception that allowed Leonid to masquerade as an entire fire team, without alerting anyone aboard the ship. Following Leonid's disappearance from Infinity, MONTEGUE would abandon all ties with ONI and commit himself fully to Spartan branch, even carrying out missions to search for and retrieve Leonid in order to restore trust between himself and the Spartan branch leadership. These missions would prove unsuccessful, but would nevertheless give MONTEGUE the credit needed to return to active duty in Spartan. MONTEGUE looked down on Leonid's personality and his origins, viewing him as less than a person and ethically absent, but notably respected and even feared the SPARTAN-II for his extreme combat skill. Leonid, meanwhile, was known to despise MONTEGUE much in the same vein as others from the Spartan branch--looking down on them as inferior--but, astoundingly, respected MONTEGUE's acting skills as nearly on par with his own. Equipment Weapons As with all SPARTANs, Leonid was proficient with a wide variety of weaponry, both UNSC and Covenant. Section Zero, and the Field Investigation Team in general maintained large and well equipped stockpiles of ordnance, both traditional and specialized; this allowed Leonid access to a diverse selection of weapons nearly on par with his brethren operating with traditional UNSC special forces. In addition to firearms and knives, Section Zero stores were home to a wide variety of unusual weaponized measures, such as chemical nerve agents, liquid poisons, and gas bio agents. While Leonid would not hesitate to make use of these specialized or exotic kit when the situation arose, his role as an assassin nevertheless usually narrowed his selection to a set of core, key tools. ''' The M395 Designated Marksman Rifle is a gas-operated select-fire designated marksman rifle that fires 7.62x51mm full metal jacket armor piercing ammunition. Designed by Misriah armory and fielded following the conclusion of the Great War, the DMR was favored by Leonid due to it's precision, power, and range. Smaller than a sniper rifle but with enough firepower to eliminate targets from a distance, Leonid favored the weapon after being introduced to it during his stint aboard the UNSC Infinity in 2558. The M7S M7S Caseless Submachine Gun a variant of the M7 Caseless Submachine Gun, which fires 5 x 23mm M443 Caseless Full Metal Jacket ammunition and is affixed with a mounted . Leonid generally chose to forgo the rail mounted flashlight and , favoring the weapon not for it's accuracy but for the volume of fire it could put out at close range when dual wielded. Standard issue among all branches of the UNSC military, the CQC WS Combat Knife was one of the trusted mainstays of Leonid's arsenal. While Leonid's true edge over other SPARTANs belonged in hand-to-hand combat, he was also a celebrated master of combat with a knife and a noted expert thrower. When on missions for Section Zero, Leonid would often choose to eliminate targets from a distance simply to avoid the extra inconvenience caused by having to escape in close proximity, but nevertheless kept a personal combat knife on hand at all times. The Humbler stun device is a non-lethal electrical baton weapon used by the to subdue targets in a temporarily painful way but non-lethal manner. On the rare occasion where Codename: CHAUCER required a target to be returned alive, Leonid was known to make use of the Humbler to incapacitate his enemies. The lightweight baton was primarily relegated to covert missions where Leonid could not deploy in full gear; when armored, the nigh invincible SPARTAN usually had no need to incapacitate targets in order to extract them against their will. The M6K Personal Defense Weapon System is a special issue handgun for covert mission deployments that fires 12.7mm x 40mm Semi-Armor-Piercing, High-Penetration ammunition. Primarily utilized by undercover civilian police forces and ONI covert operators, the M6K offered an operative the traditional extreme firepower of the M6 series in a more compact and concealable package. Used by Leonid exclusively during covert plain clothes operations, the M6K was generally used as means to intimidate or as a last resort weapon should the situation unexpectedly degenerate to open combat. The M6C/SOCOM Personal Defense Weapon System is a semi-automatic pistol, sound suppressed pistol used by the United Nations Space Command and a variant of the M6C magnum sidearm. Leonid's weapon of choice when operating in stealth and fully armored, the M6C/SOCCOM offered surprising firepower and stealth. Leonid would dual wield the weapon to great effect, or rely on it as a backup for other large rifles. The long running SRS99 Series of sniper rifles proved to be perhaps the most solid weapon of choice for Leonid. In an overwhelming majority of cases, Leonid would perform the final elimination of a target discretely, from a distance, and with an SRS99. Leonid, while a close quarters expert, was also a celebrated long range marksmen, with a collection of high profile or difficult to make shots to his name. Armor As befitting an augmented operative with over forty years of field experience--and particularly, one whose experience included of different branches of services, fields of conflict, and styles of missions--Leonid made use of a number of different armor platforms while carrying out his assignments. Across all these varied iterations of armor, however, one key component factor remained largely the same: a heavy emphasis on covert operation and avoiding detection. The progressively more advanced iterations of Leonid's equipment reflect this emphasis, as the armor itself became progressively more capable of hiding for detection and maintaining stealth. While Section Zero was able to acquire Leonid for their use in 2525, it would be almost ten years before they could truly outfit him like a SPARTAN. In the first ten years of his service, in lieu of the MJOLNIR armor used by his brethren, Leonid utilized Semi-Powered Infiltration, or SPI, armor. While far more advanced than the ODST ODST Battle Armor or other contemporary special forces equipment and including special photo-reactive panels to conceal the wearer from detection, SPI left much to be desired compared with MJOLNIR. With lighter, flimsier armor plating it endure less damage, with no force amplifying abilities it did not increase Leonid's speed, agility, or strength, and with a shorter vacuum rating and less reliable cooling system it limited his ability to operate in the field under the same variety of circumstances. Notably, however, the stealthy nature of the suit played well with Leonid's own natural proclivities and built on his strengths; relying on inferior equipment simply made Leonid all the more deadly once superior gear became available. MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV[I] The first set of truly "SPARTAN-grade" armor given to Leonid, the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor Infiltrator variant played to the Section Zero assassin's strengths while offering him unprecedented abilities in combat. Derived from the standard MJOLNIR Mark IV armor, Leonid's suit was acquired by the Field Investigation Team in 2535 and upgraded to match the requirements of their top field agent---Leonid. Outfitted with photo-reactive panels, Leonid's Infiltrator variant offered the same partial invisibility as SPI armor in a more advanced and durable package. The suit amplified Leonid's strength, speed, and agility while also lowering his radar and heat signature with advanced stealth suits and ablative surfaces. This came at a significant cost to Codename: CHAUCER, and as a result, the suit became just as highly valuable as Leonid himself; with nearly three times the modifications as a standard suit of MJOLNIR, Leonid's Infiltrator variant cost a small fortune. Repairs were long and arduous affairs due to the maintenance intense nature of the stealth suites and photo-reactive panels, made worse by the fact that the suit lacked the plasma impact resistant coating of standard MJOLNIR suits worn by Halsey's SPARTANs. Nevertheless, the suit survived the entirety of the Human-Covenant War and in 2552, received upgrades to add a shield generator, effectively bringing it up to par with MJOLNIR Mark V. In 2558, when Leonid was captured by investigators working for Operation: VORAUSSICHT, this armor allowed him to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a number of other SPARTAN-IIs, who themselves were using newer armor, and even incapacitate one; when Leonid was captured by these agents, however, they ensured that he was stripped of armor and that his battle tested suit was stored safely out of reach of the Field Investigation Team. When transferred to the UNSC Infinity in 2558, Leonid was re-equipped with more modern gear, both to convincingly sell the story that he was a top tier Section Three asset and to give him adequate combat abilities. The suit he received was a specially modified suit of "Wetwork" variant armor, equipped with a full suite of modernized software and a full fledged . The extremely high-end "Wetwork" suit served to deter attention: traditionally, usage of such armor was limited to elite ONI , and Spartan branch leaders were wary of questioning the origins or stories of these commandos to closely. Additionally, it proved a sort of tongue-in-cheek joke within Section Zero, referencing Leonid's former line of work in order to taunt Codename: CHAUCER. Later, following Leonid's deployment on Requiem, the suit would come to be used for it's true purpose, as Leonid returned to service as an assassin in employ of Section Zero. Leonid would use put the suit to extensive use, and it proved well up to the task; the shields, armor plating, force amplification, nerve amplifiers, and software all vastly outperformed the Mark IVI, allowed Leonid to take and deal damage at an exponentially increased rate. Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses Quotes & Remarks Quotes Remarks Tidbits Trivia *Leonid’s name in Russian means "Lion's Son" *Operation: HIRED GUN is a reference to Hired Gun, the team that brought Halo 2 to windows vista *Leonid was officially killed in augmentation, making him among the thirty that died, instead of the 12 that were disabled or the 33 that went on to active duty *Leonid was the only SPARTAN-II who's true tale was never publicly declassified by ONI *Leonid has a Russian first name but a German surname, which is due to shared ethnicity Behind-the-Scenes *This article, as of June 2009, is the sixth longest on the site (not counting stories and RPs). Ahead of it, in order, were: Acumen Science Laboratories, Ares Facility Archives, UNSC Ordnance, Kimberly Ivy Blackburn, and the longest article, Myrmidon Detachment. As of February 2012, it's not. We'll leave it at that. *Leonid's story was portrayed in ''A Life Stolen'', a fun short story that never really got off the ground. *Leonid is what the author has long thought of as his favorite character concept, just not the best executed one. Apparently, a fair few others have felt the same way, as Leonid inspired a number of other SPARTAN origin stories on the site, and possibly even Related Pages Internal *Operation: BLUE NIGHTS *Brown Team (Leonidans) *ONI Section Zero *Operation: VORAUSSICHT *''Pursuit'' *''A Life Stolen'' *Leonidan Logs *The Leonidans *ONI X-RAY DIRECTIVE *BR55CW SA Battle Rifle *MJOLNIR PAA/I Variant *C709/B Gladius-class Stealthfighter *Operation: SUNSHINE External * * * * * * * Gallery Image:20.JPG|Leonid testing Covenant-derived cloaking technology for Section III. During his temporary reassignment, Leonid would assist operations section of ONI in a number of different tasks, notably including weapons development. Image:Leonid MA5K fin.PNG|Leonid operating alone during his hunt for members of the Triad conspiracy. His MJOLNIR PAA/I Variant Armor, equipped with photo-reactive panels, proved excellent for the work. Image:Leonid Darj.jpg|Leonid infiltrating a UNSC cryogenics facility to retrieve personnel for Operation: BLUE NIGHTS. Retrieving persons of interest for the clandestine project was the main source of Leonid's involvement. File:LR1.jpg|While the photo-reactive panels in Leonid's Mark IV Infiltrator armor were just as vulnerable to overload as those used in SPI suits, this would sometimes work to the assassin's advantage; hostiles would flash bang the cloaked target expecting to be met with an exposed set of flimsy SPI, only to realize their error as they were annihilated by a full fledged suit of MJOLNIR. File:LR4.jpg|Leonid, when on loan to Section Three during the war, participated in a number of operations against Covenant forces. While outside of the assassin's normal working parameters, such missions only his versatility; like his fellow SPARTAN-IIs, Leonid's engagements against Covenant forces ended overwhelmingly poorly for the alien aggressors. File:LR6.jpg|On the rare occasions where Leonid was forced into open combat while pursuing a target, the results were often terrifying. Police would often discredit eyewitness reports, unable to believe that a single man, as witnessness inevitably reported, could inflict so much damage. File:LF13.jpg|Leonid engaging Insurrectionist terrorists during his temporary reassignment to Section Three. Such missions were common for Leonid during this time, as the Spartan branch had sapped assets from ONI and made SPARTAN-IIs a valuable commodity. File:LF11.jpg|While Leonid was well known within informed circles as an expert in close quarters combat, he still preferred to eliminate targets from a distance. Escaping after a mission was undeniably easier when the target was eliminated from a distance. File:LF3.jpg|The Spartan Four Fireteam Mountain was shot down in a gorge on Requiem in 2558; Leonid, as "Fireteam Crimson", aided them in completing their mission, regrettably at the loss of the lives of every member of Mountain. File:LA2.jpg|When Leonid returned to service with Section Zero following his tour of duty on Requiem, he brought with him an acquired predilection for certain Promethean weapons; notably, Leonid and his superiors favored the Scattershot for it's ability to completely erase any evidence of a target. File:LA9.jpg|While Leonid truly specialized in totally unarmed combat, he was also devastatingly deadly with a combat knife. Even among SPARTAN-IIs, it was rare--although not impossible--to find someone as skilled with Leonid with a blade. Image:LeonidPainting.jpg|A painting by famed post-reconstruction artist M. Elingwood A reference to a friend of the author who is himself an artist. of the Leonid. While most would treat speculation of Leonid the third Leonidan's existence as factual, the UNSC never officially acknowledge his existence. References